Saturday, July 7, 2012

2012 Tour de France, Stage 7 Results

Sky Procycling has been the leader of the team classification since the prologue in Liège and it delivered another stunning blow at La Planches des Belles Billes in stage seven as it shredded the peloton to pieces with an infernal pace up to the mountain top finish. Christopher Froome won the stage, Bradley Wiggins took the yellow jersey after coming in third behind Cadel Evans (both in same time, 2 seconds from Froome). Vincenzo Nibali came in fourth at 0:00:07 and Rein Taaramae ( Cofidis) was fifth at 0:00:19. After that there were big gaps as riders made it to the finish.

The collective strength of the British team, now with Wiggins, Froome, and Michael Rogers in the top 10 overall, has somewhat killed the suspense with two weeks yet to go before the finish of the Tour.

The Tour is well and truly in climbing territory now and we've seen what we can expect from the British Sky team. The dominance by Bradley Wiggins and his team-mates going up the steep road to La Planche des Belles Filles was a confirmation of what many expected once the Tour got to the start of the second week.

Sky has made such an impression and survived the first week (save for the casualty of Kanstantsin Sivtsov) with such panache that it will almost frighten the other teams from trying anything against them. Cadel Evans, however, showed that he's willing to take them on and he offered a glimpse of his form with his impressive ride up the final climb of stage seven. But even when he tried to win the stage, he was overtaken by another Sky rider. It reminds us that he can't wait until the last minute.

As impressive as it was, the fact that Wiggins now leads the Tour puts plenty of responsibility on the Sky team and this could become particularly stressful as there's still a long way to go to Paris. He has demonstrated that his troops are up to the task at several races already this season but this is the first time they're defending the lead of the Tour de France... it's a daunting task but they seem ready to manage the volley of shots that is likely to come from other favorites.

One of those favorites is Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), now third in GC, 16” from Wiggins and 6” from Evans. "I’m satisfied after this first test," explained Nibali at the finish line. "On the map it seemed quite easy but Team Sky’s high rhythm made it very hard. I only had to follow their wheels and in the final straight I had no chance to sprint, even if I wanted try. Honestly, I didn’t expect such a strong selection in the group. Compliments to Team Sky for their work."

Ivan Basso, finishing at 2"53" said, "Today’s stage was really hard, more so than we can expected. Vincenzo was pretty good to be in the first group. It was a positive day for us and this encourages us to continue to support Vincenzo in his challenge."

Peter Sagan's view: “Vincenzo has moved up to third place in the general classification and this is good for our team. I'm not sure what Nibali has to do now to beat Wiggins. The Tour de France is a very long race and Vincenzo may get stronger in the second and third weeks.”

Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) finished 2'05" behind Froome after falling off from the lead group with 3.5 km to go. "The contusions that were caused by yesterday's crash didn't let me sleep well and today gave me pain during the stage," Scarponi explained. "Sky imposed a very demanding pace, I could not follow them in a tough section so I chose to ride at a lower rhythm trying to limit the gap. I hope the pain will stop soon so I can make some moves in stages that are better suited to me."

Tomorrow: Stage 8, Belfort- Porrentruy , 157.5 km. TdF analysis by Jean-François Pescheux:
"In my opinion, this could very well end up being the key stage of the Tour! The course is just 157 km long, but it has been designed to promote attacks and comebacks. If a favourite loses three minutes on the previous day's final climb, he will get the chance to make amends on this stage. There is a succession of six climbs, including the Col de la Croix a mere 16 km from the finish. This 3.7 km climb with an average gradient of 9.2% is a terrific launch pad! In short, this course is reminiscent of the one in Les Rousses, where Sylvain Chavanel stole the show two years ago."

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1 comment:

Sky are not going to watch and wait as they have in the past they know that they are head and shoulders above any other team in the race. Cadel Evans had a look of inevitability about him, he knows it's going to take a miracle to beat them. He is going fight them all the way like any champion should but the whole reason for Sky's being is to win the Maillot Jaune and I doubt that there has been many teams that are more prepared than Sky are this year which for us British cycling fans is a sight to behold and history in the making....Come on Brad !